Collectibles

Over a period of more than 35 years, memorabilia has been collected, all of which relates to Walter Rutt and his environment. What began with a picture postcard that was included as a bookmark in an old book has developed into a collection that is probably unique in terms of its nature and scope.

Some of the exhibits are presented on this and the following pages. Clicking on the images will open them in an enlarged view.

Advertising card from Weil-Werke

The designer of this picture postcard, published by Weil-Werke in 1913, really went to town with the colors. Coloring pictures was a complex and expensive process at the time, so cards like the one shown here were a special exception.

The high cost was certainly not in vain, as Walter Rutt was the poster child for the thriving Frankfurt-based company. The world championship title is likely to have been reflected once again in the sales figures for “Torpedo bikes.”

Ticket from the Rutt-Arena

The logo of the velodrome is depicted on the left-hand side. The letters “R” and “A” are shaped to form the figure of a finish line judge waving a flag.

The ticket is made of extremely thin paper and measures 11 cm x 4.5 cm.

Biographies of Fredy Budzinski

Fredy Budzinski penned the “Biographies of Famous Racers,” published by Radwelt. The series comprised 26 volumes and focused exclusively on track cyclists.

The biography of Walter Rutt appeared as number 13 in a total of six revised and expanded editions. My collection includes one copy from each of four of the six editions.

• 1. Edition    1908   44 Pages   30 Pfennigs
• 2. Edition    1910   48 Pages   30 Pfennigs
• 3. Edition        ?             ?                  ?
• 4. Edition    1913   64 Pages   50 Pfennigs
• 5. Edition       ?             ?                  ?
• 6. Edition  1920   88 Pages   3 Marks

The biography, with a diamond pattern on the cover, was published in 1924 as a second edition by Guido Hackebeil, comprised 84 pages, and cost 70 pfennigs.

Picture postcard Rutt - Stabe

Walter Rutt and his partner Eugen Stabe after a victorious tandem race. The “Panther two-seater” was considered the best tandem bike produced in Germany at the time.

Photo: Otto Spenke, Köln

Picture Postcard

The accompanying illustration is the first known postcard depicting Walter Rutt. Only a few copies of it are likely to exist today.

Publishing house: Theodor Wolschke, Berlin

Vignette from the 1914 Berlin Six-Day Race

Pictured on the left is Walter Rutt, next to him is pacemaker Krüger, who acted as his caretaker during this race. The cyclist in the red jersey is Willy Lorenz.

Once the vignette had been printed, there were changes to both the venue and the schedule. The race did not take place in February as stated here, but from March 4 to 10, 1914. The venue was also not the exhibition halls at the zoo, but the Sportpalast.

Walter Rutt describes the enormous effort required to organize a six-day race in "Six-Day Figures".

Advertising card from Weil-Werke

This advertising card for Torpedo bicycles was printed in April 1913 in a run of 10,000 copies.

The copy shown here bears a stamp on the back from the Franz Haslinger bicycle shop in Zwickau.

Postcard of the Kurfürstendamm velodrome

The American Major Taylor's European tours took him to German velodromes on several occasions, where he also met Walter Rutt.

It was not always easy to find dates for the devoutly religious black cyclist to compete, as he refused to race on Sundays.